Aggressive Eater!!!

[midwestrocket]

I have a 14 y/o Appendix Qh with peculiar eating habits...He throws his grain! Flings it everywhere...he does however clean up his whatever lands on the floor but I can't help but be annoyed at him throwing my money everywhere...He is currently fed in a corner feeder at chest height...I have tried a feed pan on the ground and he just throws the bowl all together! Any suggestions short of a feed bag as to how I can get him to keep his food in his bowl?

[Quinn]

You can buy a feed bucket specifically designed for "enthusiastic" eaters. There is a metal/wire "hoop" inside the bucket at the top so they aren't as able to fling. It annoys the heck out of me too.

http://community.webshots.com/user/ballyduff

[*JumpIt*]

If he is just flinging it out of his bucket I would just get a deeper bucket or get something like this http://www.doversaddlery.com/super-feed-saver-lip/p/X1-28041/cn/1827/ .

If it is actually falling from his mouth get his teeth checked.

[KSAQHA]

One of mine is a messy eater. I took a leftover piece from a cut-down stall mat and bolted a rubber feed dish to it. The dish can't be knocked over, the flung feed lands on the mat and is eaten from there.

[midwestrocket]

he gams hsi head in there and thrashes around..usually chews sideways and does all kinds of squirely things..the metal ring bucket might be a good idea...

[LauraKY]

Been there, done that. We have matted stalls. Ended up clearing a large space on the mat and we dump his food right on the ground. Of course, he was a hard keeper too! Just hate seeing my money go down the drain.

Also, have you had his teeth checked and have you tried soaking his feed. Both have worked for me in the past with messy eaters.

[clint]

I don't know if feeding in a paddock is an option but I have a mare like that. I have seen her throw her bucket with grain in it, and if it is tied, she twirls it. If a small pan, even one stabilized, is on the ground she steps in it and flips it. I use a great big ex-watering trough that is kind of floppy, holds 240 gallons of water so difficult to throw, and it works very well.

[mhtokay]

I've swept a spot in the corner of a stall already for particularly sloppy eaters. I have one flinger who quit when I started feeding Strategy ovals. You should have seen her face the first time she dove into her bucket with her mouth wide open. Ovals are easier for them to pick back off the ground, too, if they dribble. I've also had good luck with those rounded red feeders that you bolt to a flat stall wall. Not in a corner. it's rigid and the top edge is rounded over to keep a horse from sweeping feed out of it. they make rings for the deep rubber tubs that you can hang in a corner. But if they're violent about it, you're still going to have them working the snaps loose.... I've had that problem, too. I've used those chain links that are have a nut threaded on the one side that you have to use a wrench to open and close the link. But I found their saliva will corrode it and make them hard to loosen.

[Toothgrinder]

Tipping the head may mean they are attempting to place food in the best spot for eating or attempting to get the cheek to drop away from a especially sharp spot. Tilted heads or tipping frequently have something to do with teeth. I'd suggest a thorough oral exam.

[li'l bit]

I agree with having the teeth checked. Meanwhile, how about trying a feedbag that hangs on the horse's head?

[midwestrocket]

teeth were done about 10 months ago. He has done this his whole life according to his previous owner( I have had him for 3 years). I'd feel kinda bad attaching a muzzle like thing to his face....I might just dump it on a clean mat and say the h3ll with it lol:no:

[Nanerpus]

Why not use a feed bag? I used one for a mare I leased all summer because she was messy - not quite as bad as what you are talking about but just took huge bites, and half came out as a result and not in the bucket!

She wore it easily and cleaned up everything and ate the way she wanted to and we were both happy!:winkgrin: